Friday, December 30, 2016

I am a big advocate of seeking out museums wherever I
travel.This Christmas I found myself in
the gated community, McMansion, suburban sprawl that is Scottsdale,
Arizona.Fortunately, the Monday after
Christmas, the Phoenix Art Museum was open for
visitors.I visited the museum about ten
years ago, but that time I was helping organize an event and was unable to see
as much as I wanted to.This year I had
all the time I needed on a quiet day.

The permanent collection is solid.There is a good overview of western art such
as the Deborah
Butterfield (seen above).The
contemporary collection has noticeably grown since my previous visit.I really like Betsabeé Romero’s piece in the
courtyard and then I looked at her website.I would love to see a big installation
of her work.

As an artist who works with maps, of course I was all over
Horacio Zabala’s exhibit Mapping
the Monochrome.Seeing my first
large exhibit of Kehinde Wiley’s
work was a real treat.And then there
was Martin Creed’s installation Work
No. 2497 — a room filled, tightly packed actually, with white
balloons.Visitors are allowed to
navigate their way through it.It was a
bit terrifying, yet I am glad I did it — but once was enough.

Now I am back home in San Francisco.It is good to be home.But I have to say, as we all love to diss red
state Trumpizona, it should be noted
that they have this museum.It is a
place where all the signage is bilingual, where women and non-white artists are
well represented, where this is plenty of new, dynamic contemporary art.I am not sure where to find that in my little
city by the Bay….

Thursday, December 8, 2016

The holiday postcards are off in the mail.They are heading nearby and around the world
– some even have a mail art, ATC surprise inside.This year’s image complements my new series
of Time Travel Photo Collages with a photo of
twenty years of my used paintbrushes.Normally the brushes are stuffed into an old jar.When they are all laid out, they are another
way to mark time. It was 20 years ago,
in the fall of 1996, after one of many inspirational trips to Joshua Tree, when
I returned home with a new focus.I
decided to put all of my creative energy into my visual artwork.In July of 1997 I left the unsatisfying world
of a financial district office job and have been primarily focused on making
art ever since.It has been a struggle
at times and it has also been rewarding.Those old paintbrushes are a good way to mark the years.

If you like this image, you can purchase prints and other products
from Society
6.And today, December 8, they
are offering free shipping and some deep discounts.

About Me

I am an artist living in San Francisco. I work primarily in mixed media, collage and landscape painting. My work has included maps, postcard-themed art and mail art projects. In 2013 I began a series called Collagescapes where I start painting paper with areas of color representing the palette of a specific place. Next I cut the paper into hundreds of small pieces, randomize the pieces and then reassemble them in various geometric patterns. Collagescapes are both landscape paintings and collages. They appear abstract but retain the color palette of the places they represent.
My new series is Time Travel Photos — handmade photo collages showing places in San Francisco where I have cut and sliced present-day photographs and interwoven photos of nature representing how the City looked before Europeans arrived. Each is an image of an urban space with the natural past emerging through. For example, creeks once again run through the Mission and dunes reappear in Golden Gate Park and tidal flats fill the Embarcadero.
My work has shown in over 40 venues, primarily in California but also in other locations in the United States and abroad. My artwork can be viewed at tofuart.com